The serious Queensland winter feature racing starts at Redcliffe on Saturday night, but it is Albion Park 24 hours earlier which now looks even bigger.
While there is no feature racing on Friday night, the favourites for both the pacing and trotting Inter Dominion finals are expected to have strut their stuff.
Leap To Fame and Gus are slated to have their last lead-up runs before the July 4 opening round Inter Dominion heats.
You can probably throw in another pacing big gun, The Janitor, too.
With such a focus on standing-start racing around Redcliffe Cup time, it’s great to see Racing Queensland create these mobile start options an almost ideal 15 days out from the start of the Inter Dominion.
The next step is ensuring they run them.
It’s a given that numbers will be small with the open-class talent also spread across the $100,000 Group 2 Redcliffe Cup the following night.
Then there is the simple fact lots of trainers don’t want to race against Leap To Fame, especially in a $15,000 race like this Friday.
But the race MUST go ahead.
It differs between states, but most have guidelines around minimum field sizes.
Racing Queensland must bin those for these two races on Friday night, even if there are just three, four or five runners in one or both races.
In fact, run the pacing race even if it is just Leap To Fame and The Janitor.
I mean, they are two of the best pacers in this part of the world.
The Janitor did run a fantastic second to Leap To Fame in the $1 million Miracle Mile back on March 14.
Three months before that he was only a half-head behind him when third (and Leap To Fame second) in the Group 1 Blacks A Fake at Albion Park (won by Don Hugo).
It may not come to that, but imagine the fascination and intrigue around a “match-race” between Queensland’s two best pacers just 15 days out from an Inter Dominion in their own backyard.
Talk about a great PR opportunity.
Although Gus doesn’t have the aura or dominant record of Leap To Fame, he is looking more of a standout in the trotting Inter Dominion by the day.
His prospects were boosted enormously when his clear main danger, brilliant Victorian mare Jilliby Ballerini, was scratched from the series with a niggling hoof issue last Friday.
Gus’ past eight months have stamped him as second-only to Keayang Zahara in trotting ranks in this part of the world. Jilliby Ballerini would be third.
Both Zahara and Ballerini won’t be in Brisbane.
Who knows how many rivals will want to take on Gus in his only “warm up” race this Friday night.
Especially after he signalled his sharpness with a blistering 25.9sec last quarter in a recent Albion Park trial.
But, just like the pacing race, Racing Queensland must run the trotting free-for-all on Friday night.
Fans love stars and an industry crying out for more fans has the perfect platform to showcase some of its brightest stars at Albion Park on Friday night.
Let them run, regardless of who and how many rivals want to take them on.
PHOTO: Dan Costello
The opinions expressed in The Forum are those of the author and may not be attributed to or represent policies of Harness Racing Victoria, which is the state authority and owner of thetrots.com.au.
